Brian Bradshaw has a soft spot for black cats. Like their canine counterparts, black cats often languish longer in shelters, some combination of superstition and bad lighting in kennels. But when Bradshaw, executive director of the Somerset Regional Animal Shelter, walked by Brooke’s cage at LHS last month and the 4 month old reached out with her paw as if to stop him, he knew he couldn’t leave her behind. The fact that Brooke only had one eye did not deter him either. “She is very sweet, “ he says. "I love the black cats."

Somerset Regional Animal Shelter, is a non-profit in Bridgewater, NJ that provides animal control services and cares for approximately 1,000 lost, abandoned and surrendered animals every year. Bradshaw is committed to reaching out to help NJ animals in need when he has extra space at his shelter. So far this year he has pulled 38 cats from LHS, including Brooke and a bonded pair named Raine and Lionel that his shelter was able to adopt out together in spite of their corneal scarring.

“I believe in helping your neighbors,” says Bradshaw. “LHS does a wonderful job with the cats. It is an inner city shelter that is moving forward and really trying to make things better in their own community. We work together.”